Get Prepared: Personal Preparedness

Are you and your family prepared to deal with an emergency? Are you prepared at home and at work? Are you self-sufficient for a minimum of 72 hours while emergency workers care for critically injured individuals? How will you communicate with and find loved ones, colleagues and roommates after an emergency?

Plan ahead

Take 3 simple actions today, and be better prepared to face a range of emergencies – anytime, anywhere.

1. Have an emergency plan

You may not be with family and friends when an emergency happens. It’s important to think about how you‘ll connect with them, where you will meet and to think of back up plans to have children picked up from school, and alternate plans for caring for your pets or other dependents in case you can’t get to them.

2. Know important phone numbers

As part of your emergency plan be sure to keep important contact numbers with you for family, friends, co-workers, roommates, etc. and have them on your cell phone along with a paper copy.

Establish an out-of-area contact that you and your family agree to call to check in. Choose a contact person who lives far enough out of town that he or she will most likely not be affected by the same emergency.

3. Have an emergency kit

Prepare an emergency kit for your home, car and office. Kits should be easy to carry and easily accessible in case you need to evacuate quickly. You may already have some of these basic emergency kit items at home but it is critical to have them well organized, easy to find and easy to carry (i.e. a backpack or small suitcase).

Think about what meals you could prepare with your non-parishiable food items. Check out this "Disaster Chef Recipe" created by SFU Dining Services' Executive Chef using items you could store in your emergency kit.

Need to restock, or replace expired items for an existing kit? Contact us at epinfo@sfu.ca for information.